Autograph cash register



No. 6l5,02l. Patented Nov. 29, I898. J. A. HUFF.

AUTOGRAPH CASH REGISTER.

(Application filed Feb. 14, 1898.)

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

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No. 6|5,02l. Patented Nov. 29, I898. J. A. HDFF.

AUTOGRAPH CASH REGISTER.

(Application filed Feb. 14, 1898.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ifi-t- L THE Noams vrrms cu. PHOTU-LITHl. WASHINGTON. n c

. W/TNELSQSyES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

JOHN A. I'IOFF, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO IVILLIAB'I T. BLAINE, OF SAME PLACE.

AUTOGRAPH CASH-REGISTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 615,021, dated November 29, 1898. Application filed February 14, 1898. Serial No. 670,290, (No model.)

To all whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN A. HOFF, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Autograph Oash-Registers,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the class of cash-registers in which items of business transactions are registered by marking them upon a record-strip housed in the case of the device and accessible for the purpose through an opening in the top of the case, this class of autograph cash-registers commonly containing also a money receptacle.

The primary object of my invention is to improve cash-registers of the kind referred to in the direction of simplicity and cheapness of construction and also in the matter of efficiency. A more specifically stated object is to adapt the record carrying or receiving roll, or that upon which the strip of records of transactions is kept in the machine, to afford the base for supporting the paper while writing upon the latter, and to that end to main tain the roll in the same close relation to the opening in the top of the case through which the writing is performed, notwithstanding variation in the diameter of the roll under increase of the quantity of paper upon it; and my object is also to provide a novel construction of parts of the mechanism tending to contribute to the attainment of my aforesaid primary object.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a plan view of my improved autograph cash-register, showing details of the internal mechanism by dotted representation; Fig. 2, aview of the same in longitudinal vertical sectional elevation; Fig. 3, a view of the same in end elevation with the cover and partition removed and showing details of the internal mechanism by dotted representation, and Fig. 4: a view in elevation of the registerroll.

A is the case, formed of any suitable material and preferably of the general rectangular shape illustrated. The case is shown to be divided by a transverse partition 0 into the compartments A and A for housing, respectively, a cash-drawer B and the register mechanism hereinafter described, and the compartments are covered, preferably, by means of a single lid 0, hinged at one end to the forward edge of the case, as indicated at c in Fig. 2, and provided at its opposite end with a key-operated lock, as indicated at t in the same figure.

\Vithin the compartment A is supported a roll of paper p, from which to supply the record-strip to a register-roll D, so supported as to be maintained irrespective of variation in its diameter in the same close relation to a slot or opening 0 in the cover through which to write upon the record-strip on the roll. One (and, so far as I am at present aware, the best) mechanism for accomplishing this purpose (though my invention in that behalf is not limited to the same, since the purpose may be accomplished in various ways) is that illustrated in the drawings, and of which the following is a description.

In standards 71, extending from the base of the compartment A is journaled a roller m to support the roll of paper 19, and from the journals of this roller,loosely supported thereon, there extend connected arms m, having bearings m at their free ends for the journals of the roll D, one of which carries a ratchetwheel 7e, engaged by a dog Z on the adjacent arm m to prevent reverse turning of the roll; These arms are given a normal tendency to rise at their ends carrying the register-roll, and thus force that roll against the base of the slot 0 by a spring 7t, tensioned by confining it at one end on a standard n and at its other end upon an arm on, the spring being represented as passing between its ends about a journal end of the roller m.

The rolls D and p are connected by leading the paper from the latter, as indicated in Fig. 2, to the former, which is provided with an adjustable section 2 comprising a segment cut longitudinally from the roller, hinged thereto at one end to cover the surface from which it was cut, and provided at its free end witha stud t" to be engaged by a latch 1? on the adjacent end of the roll. The end of the paper is passed about the roll D from underneath and fastened thereto by clamping it with the clamp-section afforded by the hinged segment "i.

The drawer 13 is arranged to slide in and out of the compartment A and is shown to be provided with a receptacle 7t suitable for coin, a receptacle 7t suitable for bills, and surmounted by another coin-receptacle 7L2, movable from one to the other of the lower receptacles to uncover either. On the base of the opposite sides of the drawer there extend forward to the point indicated at as, when the drawer is fully closed, the guide-bars g, each provided on its inner end with a stop 9'' to strike the partition 0' when the drawer is fully forced out and prevent it from being pulled out too far. Along the base of the case,at the center thereof, extends a stationary rack f, engaged by a pinion f on a rotary shaftf journaled in the bearings on the inner end of the drawer B. About the shaft f is confined a helical springf to be tensioned by pushing in the drawer for utilizing the force of its recoil to push the drawer out. In its closed position the drawer may be locked against the recoil force of the spring f by a handle-bar E, extending into the case from its rear end along one side of the drawer, and having near its outer end a depending projection (indicated at e in Fig. 2) to enter a recess (2 in the upper edge of a guide-bar g near its outer end. The handle-bar E is fastened at its inner end to a rock-shaft cl, journaled in the sidesof the case within the compartment A and carrying an arm (1, with the upper end of which is pivotally connected a spring-controlled dog (Z to engage the ratchet 7a.

The operation is as follows: After making an entry through the slot 0 upon the roll D the bar E is lifted at its projecting handle end, thereby raising the lug 6 out of the recess e to unlock the drawer and at the same time turning the dog (Z to cause it to move the ratchet 7c one tooth. As the drawer is released by lifting the handle-bar the recoil force of the spring f by turning the pinion f against the rack f shoots it out to the full extent of opening it, enabling access to be had, if desired, to the cash-receptacle. Thereafter by pushing in the drawer the rack rotates the shaftf to wind up the springf and thereby store the power for again opening the drawer in the manner described. When the drawer has been pushed in to its full extent, but not till then, it is locked by the weight of the handlebar droppingit to introduce the lug 6 into the recess a, and this drop of the handle-bar is attended by turning the shaft d to throw back the dog (Z one tooth.

Access to the compartment for removing the matter of entry from the roll D, upon which it is wound by the operation of the cash-register, may only be had by raising the cover 0 after unlocking it, which is supposed to be entrusted to one authorized to remove the recordstrip.

The employment of the record receiving and retaining roll not only keeps such record in compact and convenient form for ready reference thereto as compared to the methods heretofore employed, where such record-strip was deposited in a loose mass at the bottom of the casing, but also obviates all danger of such records becoming torn or otherwise mutilated. A further advantage resulting from the employment of this record receiving and retaining roll is that such roll presents at all times the maximum area of writing-surface to the slot in the cover of the casing and a writing-bed which by reason of its thickness is more elastic and easier to write upon than would be the case were a roll employed having a less number of convolutions wound thereon. In the cash-registers with which I am familiar the paper-supply roll has been employed as the writing-bed and arranged adjacent to the slot in the cover, and the paper therefrom has been fed loosely to the bot-- tom of the casing. In this construction the writing-surface presented to the slot in the cover of the casing necessarily decreases in area as the diameter of the roll decreases, due to the unwinding of the layers of paper therefrom, and finally presenting a very contracted surface to receive the record. This difficulty is obviated by my construction.

\Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an autograph cash-register, the combination with the casing having an unyielding cover provided with a slot, of a supplyroll for the register-strip, and a record receiving and retaining roll to which the strip is fed, yieldingly held in contact With the cover opposite the slot therein, whereby the said roll is depressed as its diameter increases by the convolutions of the register-strip in its successive windings thereon, and the maximum of writing-surface is continuously pre sented to the slot in the casing-cover, substantially as described.

2. In an autograph cash-register, the combination with the case having an autographopening in its cover, of a roll journaled in the register-strip, spring-controlled arms having journaled in them a roll D connected by the paper with the supply-roll and upon which said paper is wound and kept in the case with the recorded transactions upon it, said arms supporting and maintaining the roll D, under variation in its diameter, against the base of said opening to afford the bed for writing through it, a ratchet on said roll D, a springcontrolled drawer B, and a handle-bar hearrying a dog to engage said ratchet and provided with means for engaging the drawer to hold it closed against the tension of its controlling-spring, substantially as described.

JOHN A. ITOFF.

In presence of R. T. SPENCER, DAN. W. LEE.

IIO 

